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The effect of total quality Vietnamese

coffee firms
management-enabling factors on
corporate social responsibility and
business performance: evidence
from Vietnamese coffee firms Received 8 September 2020
Revised 12 November 2020
Accepted 14 November 2020
Manh-Hoang Do
Department of Marketing and Logistics Management,
Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan and
Faculty of Economics, Tay Nguyen University, Buon Ma Thuot, Viet Nam
Yung-Fu Huang
Department of Marketing and Logistics Management,
Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan, and
Thi-Nga Do
Faculty of Economics, Tay Nguyen University, Buon Ma Thuot, Viet Nam

Abstract
Purpose – This article aims to evaluate total quality management (TQM)-enabling factors’ impact on
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and business performance through evidence from Vietnamese
coffee firms.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on collecting data via in-depth face-to-face interviews with
employees, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee companies. The partial least squares structural equation
modeling (PLS-SEM) approach has been employed to investigate the relationship among the TQM-enabling
factors, corporate social performance (CSP) and business performance.
Findings – A total of 13 TQM-enabling factors have been identified and divided into two categories, namely
human and functional. The statistical results revealed a positive signal to remarkably enhance CSP and
business performance by adopting those TQM-enabling factors into Vietnamese coffee firms.
Research limitations/implications – The framework model of this research should be evaluated in
different contexts worldwide or in another sector that can further identify the TQM-enabling factor and the
correlation among these constructs.
Practical implications – This article provides top managers of Vietnamese coffee firms with knowledge of
TQM-enabling factors that may enable them to meet superior performance, including CSP, finance and
reputation.
Originality/value – This is a unique study to employ the approach into the Vietnamese coffee industry
context up-to-date, which is one of the essential sectors affecting Vietnam’s sustainable development.
Keywords TQM-Enabling factors, Corporate social responsibility, Business performance, Developing
country, Vietnamese coffee firms
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Enhancing firm performance and gaining corporate sustainability are considered the
greatest targets for setting long-term business strategies. Hence, the impact of these targets is
a motivation for corporates to enhance products and working processes so as to attain
Benchmarking: An International
Journal
The authors acknowledge the chief editor and the reviewers for their valuable comments to improve the © Emerald Publishing Limited
1463-5771
manuscript. DOI 10.1108/BIJ-09-2020-0469
BIJ customer satisfaction and a required mission to set up blueprints for business operations
(Hou, 2018). The total quality management (TQM) philosophy with continuous improvement
orientation has been widely applied to address existing problems in reaching a higher
superior performance level (Ali et al., 2020; Kumar et al., 2018; Sharma and Modgil, 2015;
Sila, 2020). Furthermore, with the various performance measurement regarding the influence
of TQM implementation, including operational performance (Modgil and Sharma, 2016;
Sharma and Modgil, 2019), financial indicators (Ali et al., 2020; Patyal and Koilakuntla, 2017),
employee performance (Iqbal and Asrar-ul-Haq, 2018), corporate social performance (CSP)
(Sila, 2020), quality performance (Bouranta et al., 2019). Unfortunately, this causes businesses
to struggle to identify which critical success factors can be enabling TQM implementation
and their role in boosting business performance(Carmona-M
arquez et al., 2016; Georgiev and
Ohtaki, 2019; Mehralian, 2016a). Thus, determining the number of TQM-enabling factors and
classifying them into various categories based on the particular research context was the
bridge to develop theory into empirical base. In fact, only a few studies have focused on this
issue, such as dividing 24 TQM-enabling factors into three primary constructs in the Qatar
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) context (Salaheldin, 2009) focusing on two TQM
dimensions, namely hard and soft TQM via the empirical research on Indian cement plants
(Dubey and Gunasekaran, 2015), Japanese SMEs (Georgiev and Ohtaki, 2019), or grouping ten
TQM-enabling factors into three categories via the evidence from Spanish enterprises
(Carmona-M
arquez et al., 2016).
Meanwhile, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have been regarded as
excellent tools to support organizations toward sustainability (Hou, 2018; Sidhoum and Serra,
2017). These issues were emerging as an exciting topic for discussion globally during the last
decades, particularly in developing countries context, which just focused on economic profit
rather than solving the existing environmental and social issues (Preuss et al., 2016; Raharjo,
2019). Thus, several studies centered on determining the relationship between business
performance and CSR activities (Garg, 2016; Guzman et al., 2016; Park et al., 2017; Reverte
et al., 2016; Saeidi et al., 2015). The positive results of the strict CSR initiative implementation
on all aspects of business performance (financial and non-financial) have become dynamic to
adopt this theory more widely and popularly worldwide. For example, the US electric
industry (Sidhoum and Serra, 2017) assisted Taiwanese firms to reach sustainable financial
(Hou, 2018). Consistent with that, CSR ideas have been developed more broadly as well as a
variety of studies have been introduced to readers about the knowledge and stressed the role
of CSR in business operations. In developed countries, the CSR report is nearly a mandatory
condition; unfortunately, the annual reports of businesses on CSR implementation are not
required by the law of emerging countries. Therefore, some recent studies in the context of
transitional economies have derived from the suggestion of prior research, such as in
Vietnam (Huang et al., 2019) and Pakistan (Javed et al., 2020).
In line with mentioned observations, several previously conducted studies stressed the
positive effect from simultaneously applying TQM implementation and CSR practices on
business performance of the various sectors: the Spain hospitality industry(Benavides-
Velasco et al., 2014; Quintana-Garc
ıa et al., 2018), the Singapore maritime transport sector
(Yuen et al., 2016), the Turkish corporates in terms of both manufacturing and services types
(Sila, 2020). Hence, these findings stated that the TQM implementation has become the critical
key to assist the firms in improving various performances. Moreover, they also suggested
that the impact of TQM implementation is particularly essential in developing countries like
India (Sharma and Modgil, 2019) and Jordan (Saleh et al., 2018). The present literature on
TQM and CSR nexus are attempting to prove the interaction with each other to the firm
performance; however, there are only a few existing studies recognizing the TQM-enabling
factors as the dynamic force for enhancing the CSP and the business performance as well
(Khurshid et al., 2018; Sila, 2020; Yuen et al., 2016). Furthermore, the application of both TQM
philosophy and CSR initiatives into the firms has still struggled in transitional economies Vietnamese
condition (Abbas, 2020; Khurshid et al., 2018). coffee firms
The rise of companies from emerging economies owing to the effective application of TQM
implementation increases the competitiveness of domestic firms compared to multinational
counterparts (Al-Dhaafri and Al-Swidi, 2016; Ali et al., 2020; Sharma and Modgil, 2019).
Besides, in fact, CSR practices’ initial purpose of agribusinesses is to cope with the pressure
from local authorities with respect to sustainable development requirements. However, the
positive outcomes in terms of increasing public reputation, improving financial indicators, and
employee loyalty are specific benefits motivating local companies to take their CSR activities
more seriously (Gonzalez-perez, 2015; Goyal and Kumar, 2017; Park et al., 2017). Nonetheless,
the agricultural enterprises are excessively focused on economic benefits; meanwhile, lack of
interest in technology development and quality management issues, as well as environmental
protection issues, contribution to society, was the cause that made conditions for existing
threats to their development (Do et al., 2020; Gonzalez-Perez and Gutierrez-Viana, 2012). Based
on the vital role of TQM implementation and CSR initiatives, also the suggestions of prior
studies in terms of examining the impact of TQM-enabling factors on the different
performances, the purpose of this study proposes the theoretical framework and tests the
hypotheses related to the relationship among TQM-enabling factors, CSR performance and
business performance based on the agribusiness context of an emerging economy. The author
will perform hypothesis testing in the empirical context as the Vietnamese coffee firms, which
have been one of the essential sectors that play a critical role of the Vietnam economy, the
country considered as a transitional economy with gross national income (GNI) per capita in
2018 of approximately US$ 2,400 (Do et al., 2020; World Bank, 2019).
The structure of this study is presented as follows. The next literature review part
identifies the TQM-enabling factors and CSR activities adopted into the agribusiness;
furthermore, this section will develop the framework model and explain the hypotheses. The
third section will explain the research methodology, followed by the data analysis section.
The fifth section represents the findings and discussion in terms of hypotheses testing
results. In the research implication section, research theoretical and practical will be
mentioned. The conclusion of this study is the last section.

2. Literature review and theoretical framework model

2.1 Identification the TQM-enabling factors
In recent years, the development in terms of critical success factors (CSFs) literature on TQM
(abbreviated as TQM-enabling factors) in evaluating various performance has pointed out
many research suggestions theoretically and practically. Thanks to espousing these CSFs,
the firms can evaluate the variety of different performances influenced by these factors. The
examples can be operational performance (Modgil and Sharma, 2016), project performance
(Indelicato, 2013), supply chain performance (Yusuf et al., 2018), CSP (Sila, 2020; Tasleem et al.,
2019) or even both financial performance and nonfinancial performance (Ali et al., 2020).
Furthermore, the TQM-enabling factors classification has been analyzed in different studies
based on each country and industry conditions (Georgiev and Ohtaki, 2019; Yang and Yang,
2020). More importantly, it depends on the context as well as the particular sector, which has
been undertaken for the study to identify the exact number of TQM-enabling factors. For
example, 14 CSFs have been employed to analyze the Iranian pharmaceutical organizational
performance (Mehralian et al., 2016a); the study of Aquilani et al. (2017) even identified 59
CSFs compared to 14 CSFs of Mehralian’s study (Aquilani et al., 2017). Nonetheless, the
suggestions from previous studies have revealed that grouping CFSs into categories based
on the similar characteristics of those factors will allow scholars to determine more efficiently
BIJ when it comes to evaluating the relations among TQM-enabling factors and the various
performances within the organization.
Considering the two-stage model of measurement, Salaheldin (2009) divided 24
TQM-enabling factors into three primary constructs: strategic, tactical and operational
(Salaheldin, 2009). In line with this approach, relying on the TQM driver approach,
Carmona-Marquez (2016) divided into three categories and evaluated the impact of these
factors on Spanish enterprises (Carmona-M
arquez et al., 2016). Besides, evidence from
Japanese manufacturing SMEs highlighted that identifying CSFs into two groups namely
TQM soft factors and TQM hard factors helped espouse business performance (Georgiev and
Ohtaki, 2019). Recently, from the context of the garment sector in Bangladesh, the findings
pointed out that the strategic and corporate requirements are also considered a TQM-
enabling factors’ classification criterion (Talapatra et al., 2019).
Hence, based on the findings suggestions from the numerous prior studies regarding the
relation between CSFs and the various performances, the author proposed that a total of 13
CSFs will be considered in this study (as shown in Table 1). Besides, the characteristics of
each CSF related to people or machines, technical are the basis for classification; thus, 13
factors will be classified into two-factor categories, namely human and functional.

2.2 Corporate social responsibility

Current literature on CSR has witnessed a dramatic increase in CSR studies, but there is still
no consensus on the concept of CSR (Huang et al., 2019). In general, all CSR concepts guide
enterprises to achieve their business goals through simultaneous integration of three aspects:
social, environmental and economical into blueprints toward business sustainability
(Escamilla-Solano et al., 2019; Guzman et al., 2016; Sidhoum and Serra, 2017). Defining CSR
depends on the specific context; thus, most scholars have attempted to explain CSR’s concept
based on the relationship between CSR initiatives and corporate performance. Thanks to
these CSR activities, the firm can achieve positive financial benefits and sustainable financial
performance (Hou, 2018; Lu et al., 2018; Valdez-Ju
arez et al., 2019). Regarding the nonfinancial
performance in CSR literature, there is a diversity of CSR research linked to the firms’
nonfinancial benefits. Several previous studies related to this issue are the reputation and
image of the enterprises with the local community (Javed et al., 2020), the stakeholder
satisfaction (Amarah and Langston, 2017; Raharjo, 2019), the satisfaction as well as
repurchasing of the customer (Bhardwaj et al., 2018). Exploring the above CSR discussion, the
authors argued that implementing CSR initiatives into business operations under three
dimensions includes economic, environmental and social (Benavides-Velasco et al., 2014;
Mehralian et al., 2016b; Sidhoum and Serra, 2017).

2.3 Development of theoretical framework model and hypotheses

Measuring business performance results is a fundamental topic to evaluate the firm’s
effectiveness after adopting various tools (Yusuf et al., 2018). Arguments of previously
conducted studies on the roles of TQM and CSR have suggested that the interrelation
between TQM implementation and CSR initiatives plays a crucial role in exposing enterprises
to reach superior performance as well as to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage
(Khurshid et al., 2018; Mehralian et al., 2016b; Yuen et al., 2016). However, the authors are
facing difficulties in looking for a discussion about this topic due to only a limited number of
studies published. More importantly, those prior studies revealed that research limitations
must depend on the context’s peculiarities in which the scholar chooses to do experimental
research in the future (Khurshid et al., 2018; Tasleem et al., 2019). Thus, Figure 1 represents
the proposed theoretical framework model that simultaneously combined TQM and CSR
approaches to enhance firm performance.
 TQM-enabling factor
The human category
1 Work environment
(WE)
2 Top management
support (TMS)
3 Employee
empowerment/
involvement (EE)
4 Interface management
(IM)
5 Communication of
information (CI)
6 Accountability of
sponsors (AS)
The functional category
7 Strategic quality
management (QM)
8 Quality tools and
techniques (QT)
9 Technology utilization
(TU)
Brief description Sources reference
Vietnamese
coffee firms
Work environment issues related to Marria et al. (2014), Neumann and Dul
health and safety, physical workload, (2010), Searcy et al. (2016), Talapatra
working conditions, organization et al. (2019)
culture; the influence of this factor to
improve productivity; also,
increasing the loyalty of workers
with the enterprises
TMS will help improve the firms’ Dubey et al. (2018), Habtoor (2016),
quality, enhance customer Kharub and Sharma (2016), Khurshid
satisfaction as well as achieve et al. (2018), Kumar and Sharma (2017)
equilibrium benefits between the
company and stakeholders like social
and natural environment
The crucial technique of top Dubey and Gunasekaran (2015),
managers in managing their Graham and Owusu (2015), Habtoor
employees is that empowering (2016), Mishra et al. (2016), Salaheldin
decision making for the firms’ (2009)
members and encourage their
participation in business
development
Across the whole relationship Dayton (2001), Kumar and Sharma
between inter-functional and inter- (2017), Salaheldin (2009), Weale et al.
organizational, interface management (2019)
is a critical process management
function in TQM of the firms
Define as a combination of Dayton (2001), Kharub and Sharma
relationships among people, which is (2016), Kumar and Sharma (2017),
between colleagues with each other Rawashdeh (2018)
or from senior management to
employee level
Considering the accountability of Breese et al. (2020), Kumar and
sponsors in the projects of Sharma (2017), Marria et al.(2014),
corporates. Sponsors are considered Perkins (2014), Westcott (2013)
managers as well as participants in
leading an organization’s project
Strategic quality management is Alidrisi and Mohamed (2012), Alsaif
defined as the systematic approach et al. (2018), Dayton (2001), Khanam
to establishing and accomplishing et al. (2015), Kumar and Sharma (2017)
quality objectives within a company
Quality tools and techniques are Bajaj et al. (2018), Muruganantham
defined as in terms of advanced TQM et al. (2018), Saleh et al. (2018), Siva
tools and solutions of the TQM et al. (2016)
theory implementation toward
maximum benefits of TQM practices
in the firms
The technology utilization level in Garcia (2011), Kumar and Sharma
the organizations is considered as the (2017), Rajeev et al. (2017), Saleh et al.
soft aspect of TQM enabler and also (2018)
seems to have played decisive roles
to contribute to the sustainable
economic development of
organizations Table 1.
TQM-enabling factors’
(continued ) classification
BIJ TQM-enabling factor Brief description Sources reference

10 Service quality (SQ) Service quality principle is Aquilani et al. (2017), Kumar and
considered as belonging to soft TQM Sharma (2017), Mehralian et al.
practice and defined as functional (2016a), Samat et al. (2006)
factor. The result of measuring and
evaluating this factor is customer
satisfaction, re-purchasing, or loyalty
11 Cost of quality (CQ) Cost of quality principle is defined as Garc
ıa-Bernal and Ram
ırez-Ales
on
nonfinancial measure in product (2015), Kumar and Sharma (2017),
process. In the long run, reducing Sahoo and Yadav (2017), Samson and
quality-related costs will help Terziovski (1999)
increase the firm’s business
performance
12 Continuous Continuous improvement is Al-Dhaafri and Al-Swidi (2016), Anil
improvement (IC) understood as a process of enhancing and Satish (2019), Rawashdeh (2018),
the stages in the manufacturing Saleh et al. (2018), Sreedharan et al.
structure as well as operating the (2018)
business system to achieve radical
changes in the efficiency and
business performance of the
company
13 Innovation (IN) Innovation was considered as the Bajaj et al. (2018), Basu and Bhola
fundamental critical success factor in (2016), Cheng et al. (2014), Kumar and
the firms for creating and sustaining Sharma (2017)
the competitive advantage with other
Table 1. competitors worldwide

Figure 1.
A framework model of
the relationship among
TQM-enabling factors,
CSP and BP

2.3.1 The TQM-enabling factors and performance. Several previous empirical studies in
proving the significance of human resource management are central to the success of TQM
implementation (Abu-Doleh, 2012; Dubey et al., 2018; Habtoor, 2016; Neumann and Dul, 2010;
Sharma and Modgil, 2015; Yazgan, 2018). More importantly, the findings have shown that the
linkage in terms of human factors will positively affect organizational performance (Dubey
and Gunasekaran, 2015; Grover et al., 2006; Talapatra et al., 2019); thus, human factors include
six TQM-enabling factors (as represented in Table 1) that will positively influence corporate
performance. Meanwhile, the functional factors have been considered a major factor category
that enables TQM implementation to help the business management system improve
productivity and quality (Sreedharan et al., 2018). Hence, the author has discussed the
definition of the TQM-enabling factors, which belongs to the functional factors’ category
(as shown in Table 1) that affects corporate performance positively. Scholars have recently
tended to take an empirical approach to evaluate the effectiveness and validity of the
framework model. They suggested that the model should be evaluated in various sectors and Vietnamese
countries (Abbas, 2020; Benavides-Velasco et al., 2014; Sila, 2020). Hence, based on two coffee firms
separate groups of factors: human and functional, the author attempts to explore TQM-
enabling factors in analyzing their impact on various performances. First, the relationship
between those factors and CSR initiatives’ performance is analyzed.
H1. Human factors have a positive direct impact on CSP of the Vietnamese coffee firms.
H2. Functional factors have a positive direct impact on CSP of the Vietnamese
coffee firms.
Second, the authors also test the direct effect on business performance (BP) of these TQM-
enabling factors.
H3. Human factors have a positive direct influence on business performance of the
Vietnamese coffee firms.
H4. Functional factors have a positive direct influence on business performance of the
Vietnamese coffee firms.
2.3.2 CSR activities and business performance. Most empirical findings stated that CSR
activities positively impact different aspects of business performance, such as financial (Hou,
2018; Lu et al., 2018), the stakeholder satisfaction (Amarah and Langston, 2017; Bhardwaj
et al., 2018; Raharjo, 2019). The enterprises’ perspective expects to meet positive business
performance reactions from the effort to adopt CSR initiatives.
Thus, the author will evaluate the relationship between CSP and business performance in
the Vietnamese coffee firms’ survey based on that positive expectation. The hypothesis is
proposed:
H5. CSP has a positive influence on the business performance of the Vietnamese
coffee firms.
Principles of the TQM implementation aim to require continuous improvement toward
sustainability; therefore, identifying TQM-enabling factors is necessary and totally capable
as a launch-pad to start CSR initiatives (Khurshid et al., 2018; Tasleem et al., 2019). However, a
lack of literature in terms of exploring the organization’s effectiveness by employing the
interrelation association between these two approaches, particularly in terms of examines the
mediating role of CSP among that relationship (Mehralian et al., 2016b; Sila, 2020). Hence,
the research model could be extended by considering CSP as the mediating role in the
relationship between TQM-enabling factors and business performance.
H6. CSP mediated the relationship between the human factors and business performance
of the Vietnamese coffee firms.
H7. CSP mediated the relationship between the functional factors and business
performance of the Vietnamese coffee firms.

3. Research methodology
3.1 Data collection
The survey will be conducted in the Vietnamese coffee firms via an in-depth face-to-face
interview with employees, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee companies. Conducting
one-on-one in-depth interviews will help the author achieve more precious data though it is
more time consuming, costly and labor intensive (Creswell, 2011).
BIJ As a consequence, employees will have a more positive attitude as well as the right
behavior in their work; moreover, their opinions and deep appreciation for the company will
enable scholars to test their research hypotheses (Gupta and Sharma, 2016; Masa’deh et al.,
2018). Regarding the sample, the author made an appointment to provide explanations on the
purpose of the study and ensure that they were willing to participate. The author then directly
distributed questionnaires to participants, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee firms
and have at least three years of experience as well. However, only 280 were useable
questionnaires for the analysis due to a significant lack of data or incompleteness, thus,
yielding a useable response rate of 56.2%. The personal information of respondents such as
gender, years of experience, age and working department has been demonstrated in Table 2
with 25% having 5–7 year experience, which is the highest number of respondents for this
survey (70 people).

3.2 Measurement scales

The next part of this survey aims to collect the extent data to which they agreed with the
statements. A seven-point Likert scale from lowest to highest as a measurement scale of all
the items is conducted in this survey, from 1 5 “Very strongly disagree” to 7 5 “Very
strongly agree”. This Likert scale is a common and widely used scale in quantitative studies,
which is aimed at testing and evaluating hypotheses (Patyal and Koilakuntla, 2017; Prajogo
and Oke, 2016). Furthermore, it also helps the researcher to easier construct, administer, and
not waste the time for respondents to understand (Patyal and Koilakuntla, 2017).

4. Data analysis
Since this study focuses on examining seven hypotheses for the interrelation among TQM,
CSR and business performance in the case study of Vietnamese coffee firms, the author
followed the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique and
also utilized Smart-PLS version 3.2.7 for analysis. The number of studies that have been using

Group Count Percentage

Gender Male 178 63.6%

Female 102 36.4%
Years of experience 3–5 56 20.0%
5–7 70 25.0%
7–10 53 18.9%
10–15 41 14.6%
over 15 60 21.4%
Age 18–25 24 8.6%
25–35 113 40.4%
35–45 85 30.4%
45–55 47 16.8%
over 55 11 3.9%
Working department Executive 17 6.1%
Management 36 12.9%
Accounting and Finance 50 17.9%
Personnel 29 10.4%
R&D 33 11.8%
Table 2. Sales 56 20.0%
Summary of Manufacturing 42 15.0%
demographic details Complex 17 6.1%
the PLS-SEM approach witnessed a rapid rise in recent years, which has proven the Vietnamese
popularity of this method. Moreover, this approach has been widely applied in various topics coffee firms
of social science fields (Hair et al., 2019). The convenience and flexibility are the readily
identifiable benefits on adopting this method; furthermore, the condition regarding the
number of samples becomes the main reason that makes this method the choice by many
scholars (Ali et al., 2020; Hair et al., 2019).

4.1 Assessment of the measurement model

Thanks to utilizing the Smart-PLS software, the framework model has illustrated 13 first-
order constructs of TQM-enabling factors and divided into two second-order constructs as
Human (HUM) factors and Functional (FNC) factors. Besides, CSR performance has been
measured by three first-order constructs as ECO, SOC and ENV factors, as well as the final
construct of the business performance factor (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.
Measurement model
statistics
BIJ First, following the suggestion of Henseler et al. (2016) with regards to the acceptance
criterion for model fit, this study will evaluate the fitness of research model in terms of the
relationship among TQM-enabling factors, CSR performance and business performance. As a
result, this article has SRMR value 5 0.077 (<0.08) indicating the satisfactory level of this
model-fit (Henseler et al., 2016). Second, to evaluate their liability and validity of the
constructs in the measurement model, the author focused on analyzing the qualifying criteria
to explain the level of reliability for the observed variables involving the indicator loadings,
Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (CR). Evaluation Cronbach’s alpha index is by far
the critical popularity index to reliability testing (Ali et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2019), this
measure calculates the overall reliability relying on the effect of each item. However, apart
from concerning Cronbach’s alpha, the scholars may also consider CR score for analyzing
internal consistency reliability in terms of observed constructs (Ali et al., 2020; Hair et al.,
2019; Iqbal and Asrar-ul-Haq, 2018) through the guidelines of Hair et al. (2019), as well as
several empirical studies, such as in Turkey (Agan et al., 2016), in Pakistan (Iqbal and Asrar-
ul-Haq, 2018) and in the SMEs of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Ali et al., 2020). Thus, Cronbach’s
alpha and CR index are considered two essential measures for evaluating the level of
reliability of the constructs (Hair et al., 2019; Henseler et al., 2016).
Meanwhile, the convergent validity based on average variance extracted (AVE) value
(Hair et al., 2019) is determined. Table 3 illustrated the content validity and reliability of all 17
first-order constructs and 3 second-order constructs (human, functional and CSP), as well as
the number of items corresponding to that construct. Factor loading values for all items of
each construct should be above 0.5, meanwhile, removing items which have a loading factor
of less than 0.5. Ideally, according to Hair et al. (2019), at least 0.708 was considered the ideal
score threshold to determine how significant indicator loading is. Supporting this
recommendation by several other studies are the Middle East countries (Al-Dhaafri and
Al-Swidi, 2016; Ali et al., 2020) and the Spanish enterprises (Reverte et al., 2016). Therefore, in
this study, all factor loading values of the constructs were higher than 0.708, which indicates
that the content reliability of the measurement model has been proved by these results
(as represented in Table 3). Their findings have stressed that Cronbach’s alpha and CR must

No Constructs No. of items Loading Cronbach’s alpha CR AVE

1 WE 5 0.808–0.855 0.883 0.914 0.681

2 TMS 5 0.859–0.899 0.925 0.943 0.768
3 EE 5 0.811–0.848 0.887 0.917 0.689
4 IM 4 0.808–0.892 0.865 0.908 0.711
5 CI 4 0.829–0.889 0.881 0.918 0.737
6 AS 4 0.784–0.883 0.866 0.909 0.714
7 QM 4 0.812–0.908 0.876 0.915 0.729
8 QT 4 0.852–0.887 0.896 0.928 0.762
9 TU 4 0.838–0.888 0.885 0.920 0.743
10 SQ 4 0.854–0.908 0.908 0.935 0.783
11 CQ 4 0.805–0.851 0.848 0.898 0.687
12 IC 4 0.801–0.854 0.851 0.899 0.691
13 IN 4 0.790–0.878 0.855 0.902 0.698
14 ECO 5 0.784–0.883 0.901 0.927 0.717
15 SOC 5 0.735–0.865 0.854 0.896 0.633
16 ENV 5 0.843–0.887 0.917 0.938 0.752
17 BP 5 0.813–0.889 0.906 0.930 0.728
Table 3. Second-order HUM 6 0.740–0.837 0.894 0.919 0.654
Evaluation the FNC 7 0.753–0.847 0.915 0.933 0.664
measurement model CSP 3 0.821–0.864 0.804 0.885 0.719
be above 0.7 threshold value, which means the data are reliable. As represented in Table 3, all Vietnamese
of these constructs have Cronbach’s alpha and CR values range (0.804–0.925) and (0.885– coffee firms
0.943), respectively (greater than 0.7). Hence, these values are considered excellent reliability,
and the measurement model is sufficiently reliable. Furthermore, aiming to assess the
convergent validity of the observed constructs, the AVE value will be considered to find
possible errors in terms of the scales. The AVE values of each construct will not be accepted if
less than 0.5 cutoff benchmark due to not reaching the minimum 50% explanation threshold
for the variance of its items in the measurement model (Hair et al., 2019). As a result, all of the
AVE values (both first-order and second-order construct) range from 0.633 to 0.783, and
greater than the suggested values, thus indicating the convergent validity.
Finally, the assessment of correlation in discriminant validity among main constructs as
TQM (HUM, FNC), CSP and BP (as represented in Table 4).
The Heterotrait–Monotrait (HTMT) ratio has been employed in this study aimed to
calculate these primary constructs. Relying on the suggestion of Henseler et al. (2015) as well
as Hair et al. (2019), the HTMT values of all constructs are below 0.9; thereby, all constructs
are measuring different aspects, it confirmed the discriminant validity among constructs and
bootstrapping can be conducted (Hair et al., 2017; Henseler et al., 2015). Hence, all of these
constructs (both first-order and second-order construct) were accepted and moved to
bootstrapping analysis stage.

4.2 Assessment the structural model

First, evaluation of variance inflation factor (VIF) values aims to check the multicollinearity
problem among data in the structural model. Following the guidance of Hair et al. (2019), at
least the VIF values should be lower than 5 cutoff point, leading to conclusion of no
multicollinearity among data in the structural model. More precisely, if the VIF values are close
to three or less than three, it means the data can be accepted without multicollinearity among
whole constructs (Hair et al., 2019). The author clarified VIF coefficients by following the full
collinearity approach in the structural model, as recommended by Hair et al. (2019). As a result,
all of these VIF of all constructs range from 1.599 to 3.520 (below 5 cutoff point). It indicated no
multicollinearity among factors in the structural model of this case study (Hair et al., 2019).
The confirmation regarding the absence of multicollinearity among observed indicators
leading to assess the structural model must be considered with other aspects. Two values of
R-squared (R2) and Q-squared (Q2) are proposed for clarifying endogenous construct and
prediction relevance, respectively (Hair et al., 2019; Henseler et al., 2009). The R2 value plays a
very critical role, which helps the author to assess the power explanation of the structural
model. Thus, the R2 value cutoff has been divided into three thresholds as 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75, as
well as with that significance valuation from weak to moderate and substantial, respectively
(Hair et al., 2019; Henseler et al., 2009). According to the results of the PLS algorithm shown in
Figure 2, CSP and BP are two essential dependent variables in the structural model, where
these two R2 values obtained were 0.764 and 0.574, respectively. Thereby, endogenous
construct, which is explained at 76.4 and 57.4% belongs to the significant variance level with
respect to CSP and business performance of the Vietnamese coffee firms, respectively. Though

Constructs HUM FNC CSP BP

HUM 0.809
FNC 0.880 0.815
CSP 0.854 0.839 0.848 Table 4.
BP 0.675 0.738 0.712 0.853 Discriminant validity
BIJ other empirical studies have been favoring the evaluated R2 value, however, several recent
empirical studies, which were published in the reputable international journal, have utilized Q2
value for assessing the PLS-SEM model as well (Ali et al., 2020; Reverte et al., 2016). The
blindfolding assessment of Smart-PLS software has been employed to evaluate the quality of
the study structural model through predictive relevance value as Q-squared (Q2).
Table 5 illustrated the Q2 value of two important indicators as CSP (Q2 5 0.510 > 0.50
threshold) and BP (Q2 5 0.385 > 0.25 threshold). Thus, the predictive accuracy of the CSP

Total SSO SSE Q-squared

Table 5. CSP 840 411.583 0.510

Prediction relevance of Business performance 1,400 861.168 0.385
the model Note(s): SSE: sum of squares of prediction errors; SSO: sum of squares of observations

Figure 3.
The structural model
construct and BP construct reached to great and medium level, respectively (Hair et al., 2019; Vietnamese
Henseler et al., 2009). coffee firms
The purpose of this study is testing the hypothesis through determining the direct
influence of TQM-enabling factors on CSR performance and the direct linkage of CSP on
business performance. Furthermore, it was also testing the mediate role of CSR between two
constructs as the TQM-enabling factors and BP. Hence, the bootstrapping assessment has
been conducted to point out the t-statistics (see Figure 3) and standard error values
(see Table 6). As represented in Table 6, path coefficients (estimates), standard error (S.E),
t-values and p-values have been demonstrated. It is clear that there are a total of seven
hypotheses testing results; however, the results indicated that there are six hypotheses
supported, and only one hypothesis as H3 was not supported due to p-value which was not
significant (5 0.656 > 0.05 cutoff) (Hair et al., 2019). Thus, the result highlighted that the direct
influence on business performance of the human factors was negative and also not
significant. Meanwhile, except for hypothesis 3, the remaining hypotheses, which have all the
p-values smaller than 0.01 indicate that these six relationships were very significant, were
supported as well (Hair et al., 2019).

5. Findings and discussion

The first research objective is determining the direct relationship between the TQM-enabling
factors (human and functional) and corporate performance within the context of the
Vietnamese coffee firms. As represented in Table 6, the analysis results in terms of
hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 at 0.001 level of significance indicated the positive impact of
these two TQM-enabling factors on CSP. Hypothesis 1 related to the impact of human factors
on the CSP of the Vietnamese coffee firms, the results revealed that human factors have a
crucial and positive influence on CSP (β 5 0.512; p 5 0.000 < 0.001). This path coefficient
indicated that CSP is approximately 51% regressed by the human factors.
Meanwhile, hypothesis 2, which determines the direct relationship between functional
factors and CSP given supported on the basis of the regression weight through PLS-SEM
approach (β 5 0.389; p 5 0.000 < 0.001). It means that the functional factors have a role in
estimates of nearly 40% for CSP of this empirical research. Thereby, the TQM-enabling
factors (human factors and functional factors) were considered the reason, which has the
ability to improve the performance of CSR activities in the Vietnamese coffee firms. The
findings are closely connected with the study of Tasleem et al. (2019), which stresses that
TQM exerts a positive influence on CSP based on the context of a developing country like
Pakistan (Tasleem et al., 2019). Although Yazgan (2018) emphasized that human dimension is
essential to the development strategy of the organization, and human is also considered as a
risk factor, which affects the sustainability of corporate through evidence in the aviation
sector (Yazgan, 2018). Nonetheless, on the basis of the testing result regarding hypothesis 3
(β 5 0.053; p 5 0.656 > 0.05) showed that insignificance in the direct impact of human

Hypothesis Relationship Estimates S.E t-value p-value Decision

H1 HUM 5> CSP 0.512 0.070 7.282 0.000 Supported

H2 FNC 5> CSP 0.389 0.071 5.467 0.000 Supported
H3 HUM 5> BP 0.053 0.125 0.446 0.656 Not Supported
H4 FNC 5> BP 0.504 0.102 4.957 0.000 Supported
H5 CSP 5> BP 0.335 0.105 3.187 0.001 Supported
H6 HUM 5> CSP 5> BP 0.171 0.058 2.937 0.003 Supported Table 6.
H7 FNC 5> CSP 5> BP 0.131 0.049 2.632 0.009 Supported Hypotheses testing
BIJ factors on business performance, it means H3 was not accepted. Surprisingly, the findings of
this hypothesis conflict with the results of Abu-Doleh (2012) and Talapatra et al. (2019). In the
context of emerging economies as Jordan and Bangladesh, respectively, these studies
highlighted that human factors have a direct influence and positive relationship with firm
performance (Abu-Doleh, 2012; Talapatra et al., 2019). Also, at the 95% significance level for
testing the direct relationship between functional factors and business performance, the
results of hypothesis 4 (β 5 0.504; p 5 0.000 < 0.001) illustrated that functional factors have a
positive relationship with business performance. Thus, the direct relationship between
TQM-enabling factors and business performance confirmed the essential role of TQM-
enabling factors, which is partially significant in the observed BP construct of the Vietnamese
coffee firms.
As presented in Table 6, hypothesis 5 indicated the direct relationship between CSR
activities and BP. Consequently, this relationship is positive with H5 (β 5 0.335;
p 5 0.001 < 0.01), which has been estimated at the 95% significance level. Consequently,
this study’s results indicated that business performance has a positive impact on CSR
performance through the data of Vietnamese coffee firms. Thus, these results are consistent
with the recent study of Valdez-Ju
arez et al. (2019), which emphasized that three aspects on
the basis of the CSR definition are the key factors to increasing the business performance of
SMEs in North-Western Mexico (Valdez-Ju
arez et al., 2019). Reinforcing this viewpoint, as a
result, business performance will increase significantly in the future, and it also will espouse
all companies to continue implementing CSR initiatives. Thereby, the findings from this
research are comparable with previous contributions of Guzman (2016) and Garg (2016),
which demonstrated that the importance of CSR programs was meaningful and feasible for
enterprises to support and improve competitiveness (Garg, 2016; Guzman et al., 2016). Hence,
enriching the positive relationship between CSR practices and brand of corporate, this
research has shown that effective adopting of CSR initiatives has an impact on the reputation
and image of businesses to stakeholders. The influence of the increased reputation has
affected the competitive advantage; besides, the positive impact from CSR will create the
significant link to the financial performance of organizations (Hou, 2018; Saeidi et al., 2015).
Nonetheless, depending on each research’s circumstance, the impact of CSR activities will
also have a positive or a negative impact on enterprise performance. Based on the CSR data
collected from Spanish enterprises, Escamilla-Solano et al. (2019) stated that only the
economic and social dimensions have a positive impact on enhancing business profitability.
Meanwhile, the hypothesis in terms of the environmental aspect being the factor impacting
on increasing profitability for enterprises is rejected (Escamilla-Solano et al., 2019).
The last relationship evaluation, which has been calculated is that the mediate role of CSP
in the relationship between TQM-enabling factors and business performance in the
Vietnamese coffee firms. Through the perception of employees, who are working in these
Vietnamese coffee firms, the study reveals the impact of TQM-enabling factors on business
performance through CSP construct. There are two hypotheses (H6 and H7) testing the
indirect of TQM-enabling factors (human and functional, respectively) on the BP observed
variable. The results’ analysis in Table 6 have revealed that two hypotheses H6 (β 5 0.171;
p 5 0.003 < 0.05) and H7 (β 5 0.131; p 5 0.009 < 0.05) at the 95% significance level as the
evidence for confirmation the mediate role of CSP in terms of the indirect impact of TQM-
enabling factors on business performance. Surprisingly, within the context relationship of
TQM5>CSR5>BP, although there is not enough evidence to indicate the direct impact of
human factors on business performance, however, confirmation of the indirect influence on
the BP variable of the HUM construct has witnessed the mediate role of CSP construct
(p-value of H6 5 0.003 < 0.05). Nonetheless, regarding the functional factors, which not only
has a positive impact in the direct relation with CSP and BP, respectively (see results of H2,
H4) but also has an indirect connection with business performance, thanks to CSP for playing Vietnamese
a mediating role in this relationship (see the analysis of H7). coffee firms

6. Research implications, limitations and future research

6.1 Research implications
This study finding has contributed to enriching theories regarding the relationship between
TQM philosophy, CSR practices and business performance. First, on the basis of the TQM
implementation; consequently, 13 TQM-enabling factors have been identified and divided
into two major categories by other approaches, including human and functional, with
involved six and seven CFSs, respectively. Thus, via the evidence from empirical research of
the Vietnamese coffee firms, this study has contributed to the existing literature on the
influence of the TQM-enabling factors. Second, the research framework model in terms of
employing both these two approaches (TQM5>CSR5>BP) with TQM-enabling factors as a
dynamic and CSR plays a mediation role. It then has been tested and could enhance business
performance effectiveness. Consistent with this research results, Sila (2020) in the survey of
229 Turkish firms has reported that TQM has a substantial impact on CSP; further, the CSP
variable also has a positive effect on enhancing performance for these Turkish firms by two
aspects as financial and market performance (Sila, 2020). Besides, in line with these findings,
Abbas (2020) has shown some arguments in the context of a transitional economy. The
author has been interested in the mediating role of CSR activities on the basis of gathering
the data from Pakistan medium and large-sized manufacturing firms. Thereby, meanwhile,
the argument stressed that TQM has a positive impact directly on corporate performance;
TQM implementation also has an indirect positive influence via the mediation role of CSR
practices (Abbas, 2020). Surprisingly, this article framework conflicts with the proposed
model of prior studies. For instance, in the Ghanaian telecommunication industry (Mahmoud
and Hinson, 2012), Spanish companies (Reverte et al., 2016), or via case study in Iranian
pharmaceutical corporates (Mehralian et al., 2016b). Although they claimed that CFSs and
CSR practices are two essential keys in successfully implementing the corporate business
strategy and enhancing various performance aspects, these papers proposed a different
approach, which considers TQM implementation as a mediating role in the connection
between CSR practices and business performance (CSR5>TQM5>BP).

6.2 Practical implications

The findings revealed a number of practical implications for the top managers as follows.
First, this study confirmed the possibility to implement both TQM philosophy and CSR
theory in agribusinesses. In this way, improving business performance will promote other
sectors to pay more attention to comprehensive solutions, especially in the transitional
economy like Vietnam, where agriculture plays a vital role. Second, the specific identification
of two TQM-enabling factors groups (human and functional) with 13 factors to be involved
would help managers choose suitable tools for adopting into their corporates depending on
their capabilities. Consequently, the findings have shown the different impacts of the human
and functional dimensions when integrated with CSR initiatives on the basis of the
Vietnamese coffee firms. Hence, the positive contribution of these factors as the signals
indicated that determining and adopting these TQM-enabling factors into corporate will
enhance the effectiveness of various performance results. Thus, 13 enabling factors are the
worthy suggestions for Vietnamese coffee firms and other sectors as well; besides, this
argument has been stated by Mehralian et al. (2016a, b) and Aquilani et al. (2017).
Furthermore, the CSR is a necessary topic to adapt to organization strategy; it requires the
long-term process to ensure successfully formulating the business blueprint toward
BIJ corporate sustainability. In normal conditions, although short-term business goals are the top
priority of SMEs, otherwise, the results in this exploratory study showed that the success of
CSR performance from the implementation process in the long run (during the last three
years). Besides, this statement once again supports the argument for previous studies
concerning CSR benefits (Alsaif et al., 2018), long-term competitive advantage (Abbas, 2020;
Reverte et al., 2016).The business performance of an enterprise is considered to be effective if
it can achieve an image in the perception of customers, improve its competitive advantage in
further as well as reach growth targets related to the financial benchmark of the business
(Masa’deh et al., 2018; Mehralian et al., 2016b). Hence, through the empirical evidence in
Vietnamese coffee firms, these results contribute to managerial knowledge and suggest top
managers a superior understanding of leveraging these excellent tools (TQM-enabling
factors and CSR).

6.3 Limitations and future research

This research is the first known empirical study to evaluate the interrelation association
between TQM philosophy and CSR theory in a particular sector of the transitional economy
as Vietnam; thus, there are some certain limitations in this article that offer some ideas for
other scholars in future research. First, relying on a systematic review approach of previous
studies related to CSFs and TQM implementation, this article only identified 13 CSFs and
classified into two categories, namely human and functional. Thereby, to enrich the literature
and fulfill the gap of TQM implementation in future research, other CSFs can be considered
and may suggest different classification approaches in terms of the TQM-enabling factors.
Second, this study only focused on Vietnamese coffee firms since this sector has a significant
contribution to the economy as well as the society of Vietnam. Therefore, the results of testing
this proposed research framework model were only suitable for Vietnamese coffee firms;
moreover, the context of a transitional economy like Vietnam has its different characteristics
and conditions of economic, cultural, political and social compared to other countries in the
world. Thus, to enrich the literature in terms of the mutual interrelation between TQM-
enabling factors and CSR initiatives to enhance business performance, the proposed
framework model of this study needs to be conducted in other contexts that can further
clarify the impact, as well as the correlation between two excellent tools. Finally, the last
limitation of this research is the difficulties in contacting all employees or the firms of the
Vietnamese coffee industries due to far distance as well as time constraints. Hence, the
research conclusions may not be generalized for other companies; thereby, limiting its
contributions.

7. Conclusion
Conducting the approach to adopt both TQM implementation and CSR activities to measure
business performance; the proposed research model considers TQM-enabling factors as the
dynamic factor that can significantly impact CSP and BP. Besides, it explained that this
combination is a new direction to help the firms achieve corporate sustainability. The
usefulness and contribution of that mutual relationship between the TQM-enabling factors
and CSR initiatives have been evaluated via a Vietnamese coffee firm case study. The
evidence of hypotheses testing results indicated that an enterprise was entirely motivated to
pursue the goal of sustainable development and meet up its business targets. Furthermore,
this is unique research regarding combining these two approaches in a developing nation like
Vietnam.
Although the relationship stream (TQM5>CSP5>BP) was fit concerning the
Vietnamese coffee firms’ case study within the context of an emerging economy, the
positive contribution to the existing literature of two categories, including human and Vietnamese
functional, with 13 CSFs involved can be considered the excellent tools that help corporates coffee firms
enhance their various performances. Thus, this proposed research model can be extended
and further studied in other sectors as well as another country.

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About the authors

Manh-Hoang Do is a Postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Marketing and Logistics
Management at Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan (R.O.C.). He has also served as
the lecturer at Faculty of Economics in Tay Nguyen University, Vietnam from 2010. Besides that, he
served as an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Marketing and Logistics Management of
Management College in the Chaoyang University of Technology. He has completed the Ph.D. Program
of Business Administration in Industrial Development in the year 2020 at the Chaoyang University of
Technology, Taiwan. Until now, he has published three articles in reputable international journals
namely Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management (CSREM), International
Journal of Productivity and Performance Management (IJPPM), and Business Strategy and
Development (BSD). Besides, he has also published one article in the domestic journal and presented
five papers at International conferences. His research field about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),
Total Quality Management (TQM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Marketing Management.
Moreover, he is also a guest reviewer of a reputable journal like CSREM, IJQRM, and BSD. Manh-Hoang
Do is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: dohoangtnu@gmail.com
Yung-Fu Huang is a professor of the Department of Marketing and Logistics Management at
Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Industrial management from
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. His research areas include inventory
management, engineering economics, operations research and service quality management. He has
accepted/published in journals such as Applied Mathematical Modeling, Asia–Pacific Journal of
Operational Research, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Information
and Management Sciences, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of
Systems Science, Journal of Applied Sciences, Journal of Information and Optimization Sciences, Journal
of the Operational Research Society, Journal of the Operations Research Society of Japan, Journal of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, Mathematical and
Computational Applications, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Omega, Opsearch, Production
Planning and Control, Quality and Quantity, Taiwan Academy of Management Journal and Yugoslav
Journal of Operations Research.
Thi-Nga Do is the lecturer at Faculty of Economics in Tay Nguyen University, Vietnam. She obtained
her PhD in Economics program from Vietnam National University of Agriculture in the year 2012. Her
research field about Economics, Value chain, Supply Chain Management, especially in Agriculture Vietnamese
industry and Rural development.Until now, she is the author of three books related to Vietnamese coffee
industry and rural development in Vietnam. Moreover, she has also published several articles in the coffee firms
domestic journal. Furthermore, she has published three articles on reputable journal, such as Journal of
Productivity and Performance Management (IJPPM), and two papers at International conferences in her
study field.

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